Baby on Board!
by Ramzes
Summary: Sirius Black is eighteen. That is good. He's just graduated from Hogwarts. That is good, too. He has recently been married. That is worse. He is going to have a baby. That is the worst thing possible! SBOC
1. Not Quite a Picture

**Disclaimer: I do not wish I were J. K. Rowling, but I do wish I owned Harry Potter!**

_That is the same Chapter 1, just betaed by saiyanwizardgurl. Thank you so much!_

Chapter 1

The dark-haired woman hesitated for a moment before pressing the button on the wall next to the door. Immediately, she heard a sound emanating from the button. _So, that's what Muggles call a door-bell_, she smiled. _I can hear it, but what if it's defected and they can't hear it from inside? _ To be sure, she pressed it again, and then again, enjoying the sound more and more.

"For God's sake, there aren't any deaf people in here!" a female voice came from inside, and not even a moment later, the door was opened. "Good morning," the woman said, more politely. "Can I help you?"

"I'm not sure," Liz hesitated. "I thought that Remus Lupin and Angela Black lived here – "

"They do," the other woman assured her, and stepped aside. "Come in, come in. Which one of them do you want to see? I'm Julia Lupin, by the way; Remus' mother."

"Oh! Nice to meet you, finally. I'm Elizabeth Potter, and who is that?" she asked, looking at the big crib in the living room. "Oh, but he is the cutest little thing – "

"True," Julia Lupin agreed, smiling. "That's my grandson, Arion. He's eight months old."

Liz looked at her. "Can I take him?" she asked. "Or is he going to be afraid of me?"

"No, he'll come to you. Most babies are afraid of strangers, but he isn't. I don't know why."

Liz reached for the baby. The little boy smiled at her and immediately got a hold of her long dark hair, putting a lock in his mouth and sucking it. She laughed. "He is adorable."

"Take a seat," Julia Lupin invited her, sitting on a chair. "I suppose James gave you that address?"

"Yes, I wanted to meet Angela."

"You weren't at the wedding," the other woman said.

"No, I was visiting my sister in Spain just then, and I couldn't make it back in time, but now, I want to make up for it. Oh, is that her?"

"Yes, it's her," the girl that had just entered, answered. "I'm Angela Peters."

"Black," Liz added. "You are Angela Peters Black now. I'm really glad to meet you, Angela. James has told me so much about you."

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Potter," the young woman answered, and looked at Mrs. Lupin. "Is it time for us to leave?"

"We still have a few minutes."

"Good," Angela said, and crossed the living room. Liz examined her carefully. So, this was Sirius' bride. The girl he had married only because of the baby. James had told Liz that Angela was very pretty, and she really was – dark hair, olive skin, and perfect facial features. Her pregnancy was obvious, but if she had to give birth soon, then who was the baby that she was holding?

"Oh!" Liz gasped. "You have twins!"

"I have twins?" Julia Lupin laughed. "I'm a bit too old for that, but it's true that they are twins. This is my granddaughter, Arielle, and I am her babysitter for today, or at least, I was until now. I'll take Angela to the doctor's, so the kids are going to stay with Remus."

Liz looked at the baby girl. Unlike her brother, Arielle was wriggling and screaming in Angela's arms. Liz looked fascinated at the huge amount of red hair on her head and tried to remember whether James had been this noisy as a baby. _Of course he was. He still is._

"You're taking Angela to the doctor?" she asked. "That is some kind of Muggle Healer, right?" She remembered that Remus' mother was a Muggle.

"Yes," Angela said. "The Healers tell me that everything is fine with the baby, but I want to be entirely sure."

"Does Sirius know?"

The young woman shrugged. "I didn't think he would be interested," she said nonchalantly, but Liz noticed the sad expression that crossed her face for a moment.

"He'll come around, Angela," she said awkwardly, "you'll see."

Angela shook her head. "He doesn't want either me, or the baby; he's made it perfectly clear. I just won't let that ruin my life. I'm going to have a baby and I'm capable to take care of him by myself." She was rocking Arielle tenderly. "Shhhh, little one, stop crying. Are you wet? Is that the problem? We're going to clean you and you'll be happy again. You'll see."

"She's not wet," Julia said. "She's just hungry. When we leave, Remus will give them their bottles."

"I'll do that," Angela said immediately. "I'd better get used to it. Being a mum. It begins in less than two months and it won't stop until I die."

"We don't have the time," Julia reminded her, "we have to leave in three minutes."

"Can I accompany you?" Liz asked excitedly. "I've never seen a Muggle doctor!"

"Sure, why not?' Angela shrugged. "We'd better go now."

They all stood up – Angela with a little difficulty, giving Arielle to Julia – and then Liz remembered about the present she had brought with her. "This is for you, Angela," she said, giving her the package.

"Has James told you that I was always hungry?" Angela asked when she unwrapped the gift and saw that it was an enormous bar of chocolate.

The two older women laughed. "No," Liz said, "but he might have mentioned your – er – liking of chocolate."

"The _baby_ likes chocolate," Angela corrected her, and then suddenly laughed, too. "James should know everything about that. After all, he and Remus took shifts to fly to the window of my dormitory in the night and give me the chocolate bars they had nicked from – well, I don't want to know from where. Thank you, Mrs. Potter; I will eat it when we come back."

Julia took the chocolate out of her hands. "Hey!" Angela protested.

"I'll give it to you after you've eaten your lunch," Mrs. Lupin promised. "If we leave her alone, she would live on chocolate only," she explained to Liz.

"It's not me, it's the baby!" Angela objected.

"Never mind, I'm not giving you chocolate until you've eaten your lunch."

"Grandma!" a child's voice shouted, and a brown-haired six year old burst into the room. "Where are you going? Can I come, too?"

"John, be nice!" Julia scolded him. "We have a guest. Greet her. Elizabeth – "

"Liz."

"Liz, this is my eldest grandson, John Lupin. John, this is Mrs. Potter."

"I am glad to meet you, Mrs. Potter," he said, carefully pronouncing every word. She smiled at him.

"I am glad to meet you too, John."

"That's my sister," he explained, pointing at Arielle. "She's a baby, but Dad says she becomes bigger and bigger each day. And prettier. She's got red hair, just like Arielle the little mermaid."

"It's obvious," Liz smiled again. _Ariel the little mermaid? Who is she?_

As if she had understood that they had been talking about her, Arielle stopped crying and gave them a curious look. Her grandmother placed her in the crib beside her brother, thus leaving the chocolate in her hands in sight. John, of course, spotted it immediately. "It's so big, Grandma," he exclaimed with shining eyes. "Is it for me?"

"No, it is not. It is for Angela's baby."

"But I want it!"

"Yes, but Angela's baby wants it too. You are so big and it is very little, so it needs the chocolate more than you do."

"Is your baby smaller than Arion and Arielle?" John asked curiously, looking at Angela.

"Yes, much, much smaller."

"Oh." He nodded. "Than you have to eat the whole chocolate, so the baby can grow bigger."

"Yes, I will," she promised, laughing. "Now, if you are good and don't make Remus angry, I'll give you a bar of chocolate when I come back. We'll have lunch, and then you can have chocolate."

"Great!"

"You are a good kid," Julia smiled, and then looked at Angela. "You are a good kid, too. Remus, we are leaving!" she called out.

"Okay," he answered from the other room.

"Do not give John sugar," she said, blew a kiss at her grandson, who made a move as if he caught it, and the three women went out.

"What is the doctor going to do?" Liz asked curiously. "How can he see if the baby is fine when he can't use a spell?"

"He'll use a machine," Angela replied. "He'll be able to hear the baby's heartbeat and say how it is."

"He can hear his heart?" Liz asked, excited. "Can I hear it, too?"

Julia laughed. "No, he can hear it only by the machine. But you can see the echograph image."

"What's that?"

"It's something like a picture of the baby."

"Before his birth?" Liz asked excitedly. "We can see what color his hair is?"

"Maybe not that, but we don't need it. His hair will be black. Both Sirius and Angela are dark-haired."

"But why can't we see the color of his hair?"

"Because it won't be a real picture, just – " Julia tried to find a way to explain the situation but she had to realize that the witch would not understand her. Even Angela knew what she was talking about only because she had already been to the doctor.

"Your grandchildren are great," Liz said.

"Yes, they are," the other woman smiled with pride. "I adore babysitting for them."

"Remus won't adore it this much," Angela said, "not when all three of them are there. They'll drive him mad."

"Angela!"

"Yes?"

"You're looking at chocolates again!"

The young woman guiltily averted her gaze from the shop window. "It's not me, it's the baby here!"

"I know, honey, but you can't feed the baby with chocolate only."

"Well, I can try," Angela muttered.

"No wonder why you and Remus are getting along so fine," Julia said, amused. "We're almost there," she added. "What's wrong?"

Angela had gone slightly pale. The two older women followed her gaze and saw Sirius, who come out of the shop and had stopped dead next to them. His eyes passed from Angela's face down to her disfigured body and expression of disgust appeared on his face for a moment. "Hello, Mrs. Lupin, Mrs. Potter," he said. "How are you?"

"Fine, Sirius, thank you," Julia answered awkwardly.

"And how are you, Angela?" he asked again, making it perfectly clear that he was just being polite, nothing more.

"Because you're asking so nicely, I will tell you – we are both fine, your baby and I."

"Good," he said indifferently and went on his way.

"That's the man who the two of you think will come around," Angela said bitterly.

"He'll come to his senses, eventually," Liz said firmly. "Meanwhile, we are going to take care of you and the baby. I hope you don't mind that Henry and I want to visit you often."

"No, not at all. I'll be glad if you do."

"If you need something, you just tell us."

"Thank you," Angela smiled with gratitude. Liz looked at her with sympathy. Being neglected by your husband was painful, no matter the circumstances that had led to the marriage.

"Sometimes I pray that Raymond really kills him," Angela said angrily. "And I often think of saving him the trouble!"

"Raymond wants to kill him?" Liz repeated. She had never met Remus' elder brother, but she had heard that he had quite a temper, not unlike Sirius' own. _If those two meet, there'll be flames sparkling!_

"That's been his idea from the very beginning, after my parents threw me out and Sirius went beside himself to make me understand that he wanted neither the baby nor me."

"But Remus keeps putting a veto on his brother's favorite solution," Julia took the word. "He says, 'No, Raymond, you are not going to kill him. How are you going to explain to the baby that you've killed his father?'"

Liz tried to suppress her laughter. "Come on," she said, "let's go and see the picture that isn't actually a picture."

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"And you call that a picture?" James asked in disdain. "It's just a puddle. Where is the baby?"

"It isn't a real picture, James, and the baby won't look this way once it is born."

"I hope not," Henry Potter murmured. "You know, Lizzie, this time I agree with James. Are you sure that this is the right picture? It really looks like a plash. I can't see the baby there."

She threw a secret look at Sirius, who was reading the _Daily Prophet_ without even looking at them. "Look," she said to her husband and son. "Look here: it's the head, the hands, the legs – And here is the heart. The heart of Angela's baby."

Sirius still wasn't looking at them. "She doesn't have preferences of its sex," Liz continued, "and I can see her point. It's hard to decide that. Today, I saw two babies there – a boy and a girl. Both of them were just adorable – do you know who Ariel the little mermaid is?"

"No; sorry to disappoint you."

"No idea."

Sirius didn't even bother to give an answer.

"So, who were the kids?" Henry asked.

"Raymond Lupin's six year old son and baby twins. Julia said that he and his wife often left them to her because they both worked – he was a Healer at St. Mungo's, and his wife was an Auror."

"Sylvie Lupin, I've heard of her," Henry said. "I was still working at the Ministry when she came here from France. Alastor trained her for a higher rank, or something like that."

"Moody?" James asked, and Sirius' ears perked up, almost like a dog's.

"The very same one. There was some story about her and the young Avery."

"Avery?" James asked disdainfully. "She was involved with one of those Averies?"

"Oh yes. No matter what we think of them, they can trace their line at least four centuries back. She was a pureblood too, from a very influential family. Beauxbatons, lots of money and everything, and of course, the arranged marriage to Avery."

"An arranged marriage?" James asked, and his father shrugged.

"Actually, I can't say that. It was all rumors; all we knew for certain was that she had agreed to marry him. There was a big engagement ring, plans for the wedding, every detail was arranged. Sylvie Sent Claire looked so in love with Avery as he was with her. But she went to the wedding of one of her friends in Kent. Raymond Lupin, too, was invited there, and that was the end of it. She came back a week later, married to Lupin."

"A week later?" James repeated. "Remus really told us that his brother married quite suddenly, but I never imagined that they had known each other for only a week!"

"No one thought their marriage could last long," his father said. "But here they are, still married, both very successful in their professions, and if your mother is right, with three children."

"Sometimes the random marriages turn out to be the happiest ones," Liz said, looking pointedly at Sirius who still refused to look at them.

"So, it's not a puddle but a baby," James said, looking at the picture-that-wasn't-a-picture again. "You didn't tell us how they were, though, only showed us the image, Mum."

Sirius' ears perked up again, though he was still looking at the newspaper. Liz secretly smiled. "They're fine," she said in a whisper.

"I couldn't quite hear you," James complained. She opened her mouth again, and Sirius leaned his head in her direction, so he could hear her better.

"They are both fine," she repeated, not much louder.

"Louder, please!"

This time Sirius gave up on his pretence of reading and came closer. "They are both fine," Liz said, in a normal voice this time.

"Couldn't you say it like that from the very beginning?" James wondered aloud.

"Come on, let's have a dinner," Liz said cheerfully, and James and Henry headed for the kitchen. She followed them, but when she reached the door, she turned back. "Sirius, are you coming?"

"I have to go," Sirius said.

"Won't you stay for dinner?"

"No, I really have to go. Goodbye, Mrs. Potter." He kissed her cheek and Apparated. Liz looked at the living room and smiled: the picture-that-was-not-a-picture was now missing.

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**A.N. If I receive an indication of your interest in the form of reviews, I'll make this a story with several chapters about Sirius and his feelings – and their possible change – about his unwanted marriage and unwanted child. Thank you for reading!**


	2. Nightclubs and Elephants

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Poor me...**

_Deep gratitude to Padfoot's Sidekick and SOR4 for reviewing this story!_

Chapter 2

With a soft _pop_, Caradoc Dearborn Apparated in front of Sirius. "Anything new?" he asked curtly.

"No, everything is just the way we expected," Sirius answered just as curtly before looking at his watch. "I'm coming at seven," he added and Apparated away, leaving Caradoc to watch the house that they have been suspected to be one of the Death Eaters' headquarters.

The Muggle hotel in southern Belgium where they were staying did not have many guests this week. Sirius found this strange because the food and service were quite good and the rooms were very comfortable – they even had fireplaces. He decided to make a Firecall to England – not to the Order's headquarters because he had nothing new to say, but to the Potters' house.

Mrs. Potter was in the kitchen and she said almost immediately, "Oh, how glad I am to see you! Are you fine? Is the mission going well?"

"Yes, and what about you?"

"We're fine. Henry caught a cold but he's fine now."

"How are things?"

"We're looking forward to seeing you, dear. Everyone will be so pleased when I tell them about your call."

"I'm coming back soon. Any other news?"

"No, nothing new. It's raining a lot these days – "

Mrs. Potter was a she-devil. Sirius loved and respected her deeply, but she was a she-devil. He was sure that she knew what it was that he wanted to know, but she pretended to be clueless.

"Have you heard from Angela recently?" he finally asked.

"But of course. She's fine, given her state."

"And?"

Mrs. Potter laughed. "You want to know whether you've become a father, don't you? Not yet, Sirius, but this will happen soon."

"Well, we'd better finish the conversation. Give the others my best regards."

"All right, my boy. Take care! See you soon."

When her head disappeared, Sirius remained knelt on the floor, and felt a burst of anger towards her. She sympathized with Angela in the whole baby matter. Everyone sympathized with Angela! Couldn't they see the things from his point of view? He was eighteen, for crying out loud! He just wanted to live for a while without responsibilities. It was not as if he had wanted the baby. Even Angela had not wanted to get pregnant! The whole thing had been a horrible mistake, so why did everyone keep looking at him as if he was a monster?

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"I'll be late tonight – " Sirius began, opening the door to his former bedroom, now Angela's bedroom.

"All right, I suppose that James, Remus, and Peter can provide you a nice time," she answered, but Sirius was not listening to her. He was, instead, looking at her and his incredulous expression made her want to scream. He had not seen her naked since she'd told him that she was pregnant, and now she looked different – much different. _I didn't do this to myself,_ she wanted to shout. _At least, not alone!_ She knew how she looked – she had gained so much weight for the last few months that she herself could not look at the mirror anymore, but the pure disgust on Sirius' face made her feel an almost physical pain but she tried to hide it. "Are you looking for something?" she asked.

"I must have left my black trousers here somewhere," he answered.

"Maybe in this drawer." Angela pointed at the only drawer that she had not put her things in and continued rubbing the white cream in the skin of her stomach. She was very well aware that Sirius did his best not to look at her, so she was surprised when he asked in a tentative voice, "Is that keeping you cool?"

She frowned, unsure of what he was talking about, but after a moment, she smiled. "No, though it's a really hot August. I use the cream to prevent stretching wrinkles from appearing on my skin. This sometimes happens during a pregnancy."

"But you are feeling good, aren't you?" There was the slightest hint of worry in his voice, and Angela smiled inwardly, feeling ridiculously happy.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Good." But after that, Sirius obviously decided that he's shown too much concern, so he said, "You certainly do need this cream, you know." She did need it. In several months, she had transformed from a slender, graceful, fairy-like girl into an elephant calf, and it was because of that baby. Why the hell did she want it so much? Couldn't she see what she was turning into? At least the child was due no longer than a month, so things could not get much worse.

Angela did not bat an eyelid. "Well, tonight you could enjoy the company of many slim girls, I suppose. You've never had a problem to find a date for one night, as long as I can remember. Have a nice time, my dear."

She waited for him to leave the flat, before smashing her glass of orange juice into the wall and bursting into tears. Why had Sirius invited her to come and live with him when he behaved that way? When she had Apparated in front of Remus' flat to tell her that maybe it would be better if she moved in with him, she had felt so happy and relieved, but during the six weeks they've been living together, he had made it perfectly clear that he had not changed his attitude. He was going to take care of her and the baby, but nothing more. He still did not want to be a father and the fact that he was going to become one in a short time did not change his view on the matter. Yet, Angela had not lost hope. She knew that no matter how angry Sirius was, he loved her. He did not want the baby, but he loved her, and, despite his demonstrative indifference, she felt that he worried about her. The problem was that each time Sirius let his feelings for her show, he felt obliged to try to hide them behind snide remarks and rudeness. Angela was sure that he had no idea how much those things hurt her, but it did not make her feel better. Yet, she hoped that the birth of the baby would bring them close. Sirius would have to stop sulking after the baby became a real person. Sirius loved children; she has seen him with John Lupin when Remus had been left to baby-sit his nephew. _He will change_, she told herself firmly, and angrily wiped her tears. _And if he doesn't, I'll do all three of us a favor and leave him alone, as he obviously wants to be._

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The four friends made strong impressions in the crowd of the Muggle club: Peter was nice-looking, James and Remus were quite attractive, and Sirius was simply gorgeous, so all of them received their share of female attention. Only Peter and Sirius accepted it, though. James was unable to enjoy any female company, except for Lily, who could not come this evening, and Remus was not in the mood for picking up a random date. Sirius, however, compensated more than enough for his two friends' indifference; he flirted with practically every girl in the club, danced with them, and did not seem to notice the disapproving looks that his friends kept throwing at him. Soon, all the Marauders were quite drunk, Sirius in heat dancing with a petite blonde with enormous eyes and hungry smile.

"He's all over her. It's disgusting," Remus muttered.

"If I had danced with any woman like that, Lily would have killed me on the spot," James agreed. "Of course, that is if my mum hadn't got me first. Look, they are practically doing it on the dancing floor."

A moment after that, the blonde girl drew her face nearer Sirius' and tried to kiss him, but he turned aside at the last second, then got free of her arms and went to the table where James and Remus were sitting. "Come on, we're leaving," he said. They found Peter on the dance floor, and the four of them left the club, only to decide that they were all too drunk to risk Apparating – only Merlin knew where they could end up! Therefore, Peter caught the first taxi they saw to take him home, and the other three decided to take the next one to Remus' flat.

That evening, James and Remus had been drinking more than Sirius, so he let James put his head on his shoulder and fall asleep like that. Remus was already sleeping with his head in James' lap but Sirius remained awake until the taxi was driving them in the dark London streets.

"Why didn't you kiss her?" James asked, after a hole in the road had made the car jump and awoken him. Remus continued sleeping.

"What?" Sirius answered sleepily.

"The blond girl in the club. Why didn't you kiss her?" James repeated without bothering to open his eyes.

"Why didn't you kiss her?" Sirius muttered.

"Because she's not as pretty as Lily."

"Well, she's not as pretty as Angela, too."

"C'mon, Padfoot, right now she's a lot prettier than Angela, so I know that can't be the reason." Now James' curiosity had arisen, but not enough to make him open his eyes.

"But she is a blonde."

"You like blondes."

"No, I don't. Not anymore."

James' eyes snapped open and he raised his head from Sirius' shoulder, but before he could look him in the eyes, Sirius turned aside and looked out the window.

"What?" James asked, amazed.

"She must have done something to me because I don't like blondes anymore. She's quite good in Charms, you know. I know she did something because I don't like brunettes anymore, either. Except for her, that is."

"Are you serious?"

Sirius nodded. "Wake me when we get there," he said, and fell asleep.

Now James was the only one awake, except for the driver. He was not afraid that he would fall asleep again because his mind was working busily to accept the surprising news. _Sirius was in love. Sirius is in love. Sirius is in love. _Of course, they all knew that he loved Angela – after all, she was the first of his girlfriends who succeeded in staying with him longer than a month – but turning aside from a catch like the petite blonde? Losing interest in blondes _and_ brunettes? _Well, that still leaves the read-heads_, James thought, but he did not believe it would happen. It seemed that Sirius has finally caught the Lily-syndrome. But that could mean another thing, besides that! _If Angela started treating Sirius like Lily had been treating James for years….No, I can't let that happen, but even I know that he's made a complete prat of himself in front of her, so I have to start mending things as soon as possible._

"Driver!" he said in hushed tone, "I've changed my mind. Take us to another address, not the one we gave you earlier."

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After four knockings and three pressings of the door-bell, just when James had begun to think that he had come to the wrong flat, the door opened. He had been so careful; three floors, red door. So this had to be the flat he was looking for.

"James?" Angela asked. It was almost three o'clock in the morning and she had obviously been sleeping but now there was concern in her eyes. Angela was an attractive woman, but now her body was so disfigured that she was certainly not as beautiful as the girl that Sirius has been dancing with in the club. Her wide blue robe did nothing for her good looks. "Where is Sirius? Has something happened?"

"I left them in the taxi because I had to come here and take care of something," James began. "Sirius is an idiot, you know, but he is _your_ idiot. Have you placed a charm on him, or what?"

She blinked. "What charm?"

"So, you haven't," James was glad. "Then it is real."

"What is real?"

"Sirius," James answered, rolling his eyes at her inability to grasp such a simple conception. "I think he has the Lily-syndrome now. No. That's not right. It can't be Lily-syndrome because you are not Lily. Angela then. Angela syndrome," he finished, feeling rather pleased with himself, just at the moment when his shoe slid on the step and began slipping down – After a moment, he followed his shoe but Angela caught his hands and pulled him up.

"Come here," she said, supporting him, as they were walking inside the flat. "Stay here," she said, grabbing her wallet and disappearing downstairs.

When she returned with Sirius and Remus, both of whom were now awake but drunk, James had managed to change his pose. Instead of standing in the living-room, he was now lying on the floor because his legs had finally failed him.

Remus slumped into a heap next to him. Sirius crossed the room in three steps, collapsed in an armchair and began glaring at James. "Angela paid the taxi driver," he said. "You should give her the money back."

"I just wanted to ask Angela whether she's placed a charm on you or not," James explained. "She hasn't, so you really have the Lily-syndrome, only that it isn't the Lily-syndrome but the Angela-syndrome."

"Yes, yes, I understood you perfectly," Angela assured him. "Thank you, really. It's always nice to know that people think you are capable of using charms just to attract one man's attention."

"It's not like he doesn't have a choice, you know," James informed her. "All those women in the club were drooling only when they were looking at him. The blonde, you know, a petite slender kitten, was all over him. She even tried to kiss him."

Angela's face turned into stone and she shot Sirius an icy look. _Is that jealousy?_ James hurriedly tried to make it better. "No, no, I didn't mean that. He isn't guilty. She tried to kiss him and so on, but he said, 'Noooo, I've got a wife.'"

"Prongs – " Sirius cut in, threateningly, and Angela asked, "Did he really say that?"

"Oh, yes, he did," Remus interrupted. "He said, 'I've got a wife, her name is Angela, and she's gorgeous, and I love her.'"

"Do you see it?" James asked triumphantly. "He loves you, he loves you, he loves you!"

"You two, shut up!" Sirius bellowed, infuriated.

"He loves you, he loves you, he loves you!" James and Remus continued.

Sirius jumped from his armchair and started towards them, but tripped on his second step, and fell on the carpet on his face.

"Look, Empress, he's falling, he's falling for you!" James and Remus shouted triumphantly at the same time.

Angela laughed softly. Sirius stood on his palms and knees and started crawling towards them.

"He thinks you're soooo gorgeous!" James shouted before Sirius reached him. "He says you're gorgeous and sexy, even when you're the size of an elephant, and you have the biggest – " Here, Sirius' palm pressed against his mouth.

"Shut up!" Sirius roared and punched him, searching for Remus with his free hand. A minute later, the three of them were fighting each other quite seriously, if clumsily, because of the alcohol. Angela waved her wand and they flew to three different corners.

"That's enough!" she said firmly. "Sirius, I know that Remus and James are lying about all this because I know you well, and I'm completely aware of the fact that you'd rather die than admit any sort of connection to me. James, Remus, thanks for trying, but I don't want you to have problems with Sirius, not because of me. Now, I think it's time for bed, for all of us."

"No!" James said, horrified. "We can't have a threesome, Lily's going to kill me!"

"No, James, I didn't mean that. Come on, we'll place you in Sirius' room, and then we'll take Remus there, too. You all can sleep there."

She and Sirius caught him by the hands because his legs still refused to work properly. He almost fell asleep on his way to bed, and was awoken only by Angela's voice asking, "Is that fine?"

"Yes," Remus answered from somewhere beside James.

"Yeah, fine," James agreed. "Now I am going to sleep here in this soft bed. And I won't throw up. Not at all."

He heard Angela's laughter, and that was the last thing he heard.

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Angela stretched in her bed and snuggled closer to the teddy bear that was so warm and comfortable against her. She did not want to wake up. She wanted to sleep, and sleep, until the birth came. She certainly did not want to get up, because she would have to move, and moving was so difficult, with this huge tummy. She knew, of course, that she would have to wake up finally, but for now, she just decided to enjoy the peace, the caress of the dawn on her face, and the teddy bear next to her.

She smiled, opened her eyes, and found herself face to face with Sirius.

"I thought you were a teddy bear," she murmured softly, and he grinned.

"I'm better than a teddy bear. I hug you back."

Angela rubbed her eyes and tried to put her brain in action. "Sirius," she said firmly, "what are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "I woke up with the most terrible hangover, so I made myself a potion, and when I came back to my room, I found out that it was a little, erm, overcrowded."

"So, you decided to come here and share a bed with the elephant, as James so delicately put it?" she asked, not able to hide her smile completely.

"Yes, something like that," Sirius answered very seriously, and her smile faded.

"Okay, I'll make myself a cup of tea."

She did not try to hide herself while she was dressing – after all, Sirius had already made his mind about her looks and voiced it regularly.

"Hey, Angela?" Sirius called when she was about to leave.

"Yes?" she asked without turning back to look at him.

"An elephant or not, your voice sounds damn sexy."

For a moment, Angela just stood there, frozen, and then she went to the kitchen, smiling slightly.

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**Reviews are always appreciated!**


	3. The Baby Is Coming!

**Disclaimer: I hate disclaimers, but I hate lawyers even more, so I'm going to say it: I'm not J. K. Rowling and I own nothing.**

**Thank you, saiyanwizardgurl, for this new, betaed version of Chapter 3**

Chapter 3

On Saturday, Sirius woke up at five o'clock in the morning. He padded quietly to Angela's room, pressed his ear to the door and smiled – the absence of noise meant that she was still sleeping. To be sure that everything was fine without waking her up, he muttered a "_Mufliato_" and then opened the door soundlessly and poked his head inside the room.

From his place, he could see the pale oval of her sleeping face in the darkness. He could not see any details but the still pose of her body made him sure that she was probably having a nice dream. Sirius could almost picture her in his mind – the dark hair falling on the pillow, the smile on her face that he had not seen in weeks. In her sleep, Angela seemed so young and vulnerable, and so different than the furious creature that she was when she was awake. Sirius looked at her for a couple of minutes, knowing it was his only chance to be in the same room as her without a quarrel.

The darkness soon became dusk, although it was still quite early in the morning. Sirius went to the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove. While pulling the curtains back so he could look at the rising dawn, he saw James approaching the block of flats. _So early in the morning?_

Two minutes later, James and Sirius were sitting on the table, holding cups of tea in their hands. "I thought you would be awake before dawn," James said. "I hope that Voldemort and his Death Eaters are not enjoying a peaceful sleep either," he added bitterly.

"Angela is so restless and I'm so troubled with the latest attack that I can't remember the last time I had an eight-hour sleep," Sirius agreed.

"How is she?"

Sirius shrugged. "She gets tired easily. Last Friday, we went to the cinema, and she fell asleep during the movie. And she's so nervous." He sighed. "It became worse after the attack on St. Mungo's. And I don't suppose it helps that she never knows when I'm going to be home, and that even when I'm here with her, we're quarreling all the time."

"Things will ease up a bit after the childbirth," James consoled him.

"Will they?" Sirius asked skeptically. "Somehow, I don't think that a squealing little bundle that wants care and attention twenty-four hours a day will help us calm our nerves. Most probably, it will make our lives a pure hell on earth!"

James gave him a stern glance. "You went too damn far this time, Sirius. You're lucky that my mum cannot hear you, but I won't tolerate that sort of behavior, either."

Sirius blinked. "Don't be like that, James, not you too. Angela deals a great job in getting on my nerves, so don't start doing the same."

"Then watch your tongue better."

"What did I say?"

"You are referring to your child as 'it'," James explained. "And do you know what, Sirius? It does not amuse. Not at all."

"Am I laughing? I am not amused, James. In fact, I'm bloody terrified of the idea of sharing my life with a newborn baby. It's a big responsibility. And I'm not talking only about the inconveniences of sharing your home with an infant, though I'm not thrilled with joy of that perspective. A baby means a responsibility that I'm not ready to take – not yet. You know that I didn't want children."

"Well, it's a bit irrelevant right now," James commented, taking a sip of his tea. "You're going to have one in…." He did not end this line.

Sirius nodded darkly. "Yes, and I'm concerned about that, too. The baby should have been born two weeks ago! That's not good, James, no matter what everyone keeps saying."

"Well, it is rather common for the firstborns to be late," James noted.

"You wait until it's yours and Lily's firstborn that is late, and then you talk," Sirius snapped. "I worry about her."

"I see."

Sirius sighed, took a sip of his tea, and said, "I'm sorry, Prongs. I know you're only trying to help, and I know I'm being an idiot, but the truth is that between her expecting and all that is happening outside, I don't have a single nerve left in my body."

"It's okay."

"No, it isn't. This attack on St. Mungo's was a nasty piece of luck. Now, we don't have a place to take her to when the time comes."

"I know."

"Anyway, do you want something to eat before leaving?"

James shrugged. "You know I never turn down food."

"Then I'll make some sandwiches. We still have enough time, right?"

"Yes, we have to leave at eight o'clock, and it is still…." James looked at the clock on the wall. "Barely six."

Sirius opened the refrigerator and took some butter, cheese, and ham out. Then, he felt James' gaze at him and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," his friend assured him. "I only wonder, since when have you had a fridge and a stove?"

Sirius did not raise his eyes from the bread he was cutting into slices. "Angela bought them a few weeks ago. One day, I came home, and they were there." He left the sandwiches for a moment and drank his tea. "They can be quite useful, you know. I can't deal with all those house spells, and she prefers cooking the Muggle way."

"They really are quite useful," Angela agreed from the door. She entered the kitchen, her movements very clumsy because of her huge stomach, and sat on the sofa – another newly acquainted object in Black's household. "Is that tea still warm?"

"You shouldn't have gotten up," Sirius said in a harsh voice.

"I had trouble sleeping," she explained, and James wondered whether they were going to begin one of their infamous quarrels that made their friends wish to hide under James' Invisible Cloak. Since Angela had become pregnant, the two of them seemed capable of arguing whether or not the sky was blue. No, they did not only look capable of that – they were doing it all the time! Even the most insignificant thing could cause a serious row, and while in the beginning Angela had at least tried to be reasonable, now she searched for any reason for a quarrel. _No, it's not fair. Her nerves are up because of the pregnancy, that's all._ Still, she did lose her temper with Sirius because of very insignificant things, like forgetting to buy butter, or increasing the sound of the radio too much.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck," she said while James was standing up to bring her a cup. Sirius finished making the first sandwich and offered it to her, but she shook her head. "I'm not hungry yet," she said, smiling stiffly. "Now, tell me everything about this mission of yours."

"You already know everything," Sirius said. "The house that Caradoc and I have been watching is full of Death Eaters. For all we know, they are having a meeting tomorrow morning, and we have to arrest them."

"How many of you are going to be there?" she asked.

"Twenty-four," James answered. "Don't worry, we won't take any risks."

"I wish I could join you," she said thoughtfully.

"You do?" James asked, looking pointedly at her stomach.

"I know, I know, I can't. I just want to."

"Hey, are you fine?"

"Yes, absolutely."

James took the sandwich that Sirius gave him, and a moment later, someone knocked at the door. Sirius answered the door, and not even a minute later, Remus came into the kitchen. "Can't sleep?" James asked. "Welcome to the club, Moony. Padfoot and I are looking forward to fighting the bad guys. You are too, right?"

"You've chosen the perfect moment to make an appearance," Angela said. "Sirius just made sandwiches."

At eight o'clock, the three men stood up. Remus and James hugged the young woman and she wished them good luck, then Sirius took her in his arms. "Take care," she whispered.

"Don't worry, you know that Patience is my middle name," Sirius joked, and looked her in the eyes. "You are going to look after yourself, right?"

She nodded. He smiled at her and followed his friends outside. Angela went to the window and kept looking at them until they disappeared at the corner. Then, she went to the fireplace and, without kneeling, made a Firecall to the house she had known since her childhood. "Mrs. Lupin?" she asked when she the older woman appeared into view. "Can you come here?"

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The first person that Sirius saw when he entered the flat two days later was Remus' father, and that rang an alarm bell in his head. "Hello, Mr. Lupin," he said. "Is something wrong?"

The older man smiled, but Sirius could say that it was quite forced. "Hello, Sirius. How did your mission go? Is Remus fine?"

"Yes, he is. He must be back at his flat by now. Everything is fine."

John Lupin nodded. "Good."

"Is something wrong here? Where's Angela?"

"She's in her room. Julia and Liz are with her." Though they had never seen each other before, during the last months the Lupins and the Potters were all concerned about Angela and the baby, so they had visited the flat quite often – and so met each other regularly.

Sirius paled slightly. "Is she –?"

Mr. Lupin nodded. "She's gone into labor, yes."

"When?" Sirius asked. "How is she?"

"It began two days ago."

"Two days? So long?" Sirius was horrified. "How is she?" he almost shouted.

"Sirius, calm down! They are doing everything they can."

"What does that mean? What's going on?"

A shriek coming from the next room answered him. Sirius' face turned from pale to ashen. "It's normal," Mr. Lupin tried to reassure him. "Childbirth is accompanied by screams."

Before Sirius could answer, the door to the corridor opened and Henry Potter came into the room. Now, Sirius felt a real panic. If they were all here, that could mean only that things were not looking good. Two days. Two bloody days! Too long. Far too long. _What had gone wrong?_

Finally, Angela's scream faded away. Mr. Potter looked at him questioningly. "James is fine," Sirius said shortly. "What's going on? Are at least you going to tell me what's going on, Mr. Potter?"

The other man avoided Sirius' eyes. "I am not sure. We aren't allowed in. For all I know, Raymond is trying to deliver the baby with Julia and Liz helping him, but it's not coming as quickly as it should. That was all I could hear from the corridor."

"But she is fine, isn't she?"

A new scream of unbearable pain made it perfectly clear that Angela was not fine. The three men shuddered simultaneously, and when the shriek died away, John Lupin said, "She's going to be fine. She's a strong girl. Always has been."

Sirius thought that the older man sounded as if he was trying to convince himself of that.

"Why is Raymond here?" he asked. "I mean no offence, Mr. Lupin, but I thought that he has specialized in another area."

"Well, yes, but – "

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, John, just tell him the truth, you're just making him more nervous than he already is," Henry Potter interjected impatiently. "Sirius, don't fret, but the truth is, we could not find a specialized Healer to bring to her. After the recent attacks and given the fact that St. Mungo's is currently closed for patients because of the reconstruction period, every Healer is very busy to tend to the victims of the Death Eaters. We didn't dare to try to take her to a Muggle hospital because there are still Death Eaters at loose somewhere near, and we could easily be followed and trapped. We tried to convince some Healers but no one wanted to lose their time with something as natural as childbirth when they could be more useful elsewhere."

"But it isn't so natural!" Sirius exclaimed, indignant. "If it was, it wouldn't have lasted for two days!"

"Yes," Mr. Potter admitted.

"So?"

"So, we wait. We can't do anything else. I just hope that she and the baby are fine."

In her room, Angela screamed again, this time even more anguished. _When is this going to stop? Oh Merlin, make it stop!_

"She's strong," John Lupin said again, "and she wants this baby. They will be fine. Both of them."

_True, Angela wants this baby_, Sirius thought darkly. _If she did not, she wouldn't have been in this state now. I knew it! If it wasn't because of that baby..._

"Oh, yes," Mr. Potter agreed, "she's wanted it from the first day she knew she was pregnant."

_The first day she knew that she was going to have a baby, Mr. Potter_, Sirius corrected him mentally. Not that she was pregnant. That was what Angela herself had told him – after he had insisted that she should abort the baby, she had become very still, and then she had she had risen up and given him the unlit cigarette that she had been tossing between her fingers the whole time. _"You made your point clear,"_ she'd told him, _"so I'll do the same. I won't bring on a miscarriage. Don't fret, Sirius, I won't force you into taking any sort of responsibility because I was the one responsible for my own incautiousness. Take this cigarette and smoke it because I won't. I can't. I'm pregnant."_ _"What the hell are you playing at?"_ he'd bellowed. _"Nothing, Sirius. You haven't listened to what I told you at the beginning of our conversation. I told you that I was going to have a child and not that I was pregnant. I'm going to have a_ child, _Sirius. I'll bring it into the world!"_

He had turned on her in that moment. Why had he done it, actually? Because she wanted to give birth to her baby? Would things have been different now if he had behaved in a different way? He had heard that anxiety could affect the pregnancy, sometimes. And Angela had had more than her fair share of anxiety, thanks to one Sirius Black. The father of the child in question. The last months passed through his mind, as if he was watching a movie, every row, every offending word he had said to her, every disdainful look he had given her was so clear. What had been wrong with him? As if a child coming into the world was the greatest tragedy of all times! As if she alone had been responsible for getting pregnant. Angela was the one who had lost her family over that – her parents had kicked her out! – and still, he had acted like he was the one who had been wronged. Great sort of behavior coming from a man who claimed to love her, really great. She had been so unsure about practically everything, and he had made it all worse instead of better. If he had behaved in a different way, then maybe the baby would have been born the day it had been expected to, and everything might have been lot easier – not a two-day long labor. Now anything could happen, heaven forbid, even the worst of all... _No, not that! Anything but that. She's going to be fine. They are both going to be fine._

Remus appeared on the doorstep a minute later. "How is she?" he asked immediately.

"Not fine," Sirius answered darkly. He had just tried to poke his head through the door of Angela's bedroom to see what was going on, only to find out that there was a Locking spell placed on it. Judging from the worried voices coming from inside, something in the process was very, very wrong. "How did you know?"

"My father sent me a letter yesterday. I found it when I returned to my flat."

"Oh."

"What's going on? How long has she been in labor?"

"Two days," his father answered.

"Right after we left?"

"Before that, she told us."

"But why didn't she tell me anything, then?" Sirius wondered aloud.

"Probably didn't want to occupy your mind with worries about her while you were on your mission."

_Or probably didn't think that I would be interested to know that the baby would be born soon_, Sirius thought bitterly.

_Should be born soon. Should be born soon._ But it was not born soon. When James and Lily arrived four hours later, the baby still had not been born, and by what they could hear from behind the door – on which they all took shifts to eavesdrop – gave no signs of such intention. Judging by Angela's shrieks, it was becoming worse and worse. _Raymond Lupin is a fine Healer, everyone says so,_ Sirius tried to console himself. _Yes, but he had no experience in childbirth. How much more can she take? How much, before..._

It was well past midnight, when the shrieks suddenly stopped. There was no sound coming from Angela's room – even Raymond's voice, or the other women's. What was going on now, in that stillness? Sirius could hardly stop himself from trembling; the others looked quite pale too, though they were trying to look calm.

_Yes!_ Another shriek filled the room and echoed inside as an awful howl of anguish and fury. When it finally graded into a moan of relief, a weak cry could be heard through it.

"The baby's born!" Lily sighed with relief that no one else shared because soon, it became clear that the things were still not looking good. The nervous voices of the young man and the two women filled Angela's room again, the infant was still crying, and no one came to tell them what was going on.

Finally, the door opened and someone walked through the corridor. Everyone's eyes fell on the door of the living room. Julia Lupin appeared in the door-frame in mere seconds. She was cradling a white bundle in her arms. "It's a boy," she said.

"How is Angela? Is she fine?" Sirius asked sharply, concerned about his wife only.

"She's alive."

"What does that mean? Is she fine?"

Instead of answering, Mrs. Lupin came near him, and Sirius took a step backwards. "No!"

Paying no attention to his objection, Julia Lupin took a hold of his hands and placed the baby in his arms. "Here. That is more like it," she said contentedly. "This is your son. I'm placing him in your arms, and it's up to you whether to drop him or not."

Panicked, Sirius searched the faces of the others for someone who could help him. The fact that he had finally accepted that the baby had the right to live, and that he himself had been a prat towards his mother still did not mean that Sirius wanted to hold him. No one came to take the bundle from his arms, so he looked down at him and was met by a small red face and a pair of dark eyes that were watching him curiously. The baby moved beneath the white blanket, and Sirius loosened it a bit, enough for the baby to break his arm free and wave energetically in the air.

Sirius took the tiny hand in his palm and looked at it. The child was only minutes old, but his hand looked like an adult hand – with wrinkles and lines, and five pink fingers that caught Sirius' own index finger in a surprisingly strong grasp. He felt himself smiling, then bent his head to look at the baby more closely. Something warm and fuzzy in his chest made his breathe stop. Slowly, a large grin spread across his face. "Hello, baby," he said in a very soft voice. "Do you know who I am? I am your daddy, baby. I'm so glad that you are here, I am. Welcome home, baby. We are going to make you a nice room with a comfortable cradle and many soft toys. Yes, my first job tomorrow will be to go out and buy you the biggest stuffed dog ever – You want a stuffed dog, don't you? Or do you prefer a wolf, like your mum? Never mind, I'm going to buy you both, and then I'll be the nicest pet ever – " The baby blinked. "What? I can be nice!" Sirius insisted. "I'll always be nice to you."

He put his nose to the baby's wet one, and sniffed it, as he would have done in his dog form, ignoring the bewildered looks the others kept throwing at him. "That's it," James said slowly. "Sirius is in love."

Sirius took his eyes off his son and grinned at James. "Is it so unnatural to fall in love with my own child?"

"Given the words that you've been saying for months, yes," James answered honestly.

"Well, I am," Sirius announced, and basked of the sight of the infant again. "Do not listen to him, baby, he's just a little bit silly, but he can't help it, so don't mind him."

"Mum, what about Angela?" Remus asked.

"She... she isn't that fine," Mrs. Lupin admitted. "No, Sirius, don't!" she said hurriedly when she saw him headed to the door. "Raymond and Liz are dealing with her now, and you are going to get in their way."

Sirius stopped but did not come back. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Mrs. Lupin, tell me what's going on."

"Don't worry, Sirius, she's going to live. She's lost a lot of blood, but she's going to live," Julia assured him. "She's too exhausted right now, but she's going to make it."

"What is it, then?" Sirius insisted.

The woman hesitated. "She lost a lot of blood," she finally said, "and there were some other complications. She's going to be fine, but Raymond does not believe that she can have other children after this."

Sirius looked like he had been slapped. "That's impossible," he said fiercely, horror grasping him that actually it might be possible.

"My son may be wrong," she agreed. "He himself isn't sure of that diagnosis, but I can say that he truly believes it, and from what I saw, he has every reason to."

"But that's impossible! I want other children! You may be wrong. You have to be!"

"How much do people change," James whispered to Remus, whose only response was a nod.

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_A month later..._

"Are you in the mood for having a guest?" Angela asked, entering James' flat.

"It depends. If the guest is Padfoot," he said, looking straight at Sirius, "then no. If the guest in question is you, I can think about it. If it's Cane..." Now James grinned. "Welcome!"

He took the baby from his mother's arms and gave him a silly smile. "Come here, champion. So glad to see you. I missed you."

"You saw him only two days ago, Prongs," Sirius noted.

"Yes, two clear days. He is going to forget who I am if you continue like this."

"James, he's only a month old," Angela reminded him. "He still doesn't _know_ who you are."

"He does!" James said confidently. "I am the most beloved of all his uncles."

"If you say so," she smiled. How different she looked from the nervous woman from the last months – now she looked confident and, despite her tiredness with the baby – happy. She still did not look beautiful, not even pretty, but it would happen soon. At least she did not look like the pale apparition from the days shortly after the childbirth and after Raymond Lupin had had her hanging in the air with her head down, her whole body wrapped in bandages to prevent her from bleeding to death.

"So, how did you decide to come and visit me?" James asked.

"As a matter of fact, we were only passing by," Sirius explained. "I'm taking Angela to dinner."

"Oh. And who is going to take care of this little jewel here?"

"You are going to do that."

"Me? No."

"Yes. Here is his bottle, his water, a few spare diapers…."

"No," James said firmly.

Sirius had taken Angela's hand and was leading her to the door.

"We'll come tomorrow morning to get him, before his feeding at four o'clock."

"What? Four?" James shouted desperately. "I'm not doing this!"

Of course, he had no other choice, and he knew that, because the child was already in his arms. "But I don't know what to do with him! What am I going to do if he starts to cry?"

"Change his diaper," Sirius said.

"What?"

"Take good care of him."

"I don't know how!"

Sirius smirked. "I was talking to Cane. C'mon, Angela, let's go!"

"Bye, Cane," she said, and smiled reassuringly at her son. "We're coming back soon. Mummy loves you."

With that, the couple was already next to the door. Now, James realized that they really did intend to leave him alone with the baby. "Wait!" he shouted desperately. "Padfoot, you can't do this to me!"

"See you later, Prongs!"

The next moment, they were gone. "Wait! Sirius, come back!"

But Sirius did not come back. All that James managed to do was to send Cane into a fit of crying that he somehow knew could not be handled by a change of diapers.

"Great. Just great. Sirius Black is going to pay for this!"

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**That was it. I hope you liked it but I'd like to know what you think, so don't forget to leave a review!**

21


	4. The Babysitter

**I was deeply ****afflicted by the news of the death of one of my favorite writers of all times – Robert Jordan. May his memory live forever!**

_Yes, yes, I know that this story was supposed to be completed. I thought it was, I swear! I just had the idea about an hour ago and well, I couldn't resist it._

**Disclaimer: Who do you think I am? J. K. Rowling? Sorry, but I am not her and I own nothing except for my own imagination.**

_Thanks to those who reviewed the three previous chapters: Padfoot's Sidekick, SOR 4, JetGriffins89, Jackline, PadfootStripQuidditch, beware of trips, and Earthsangel01. I rely on you! _

Chapter 4

**A few hours later…**

"Lily?"

"Yes, dear?"

"I've just reached a decision."

She did not look away from her magazine, though her lips twitched. "Did you, love?"

"We aren't having children."

Lily tried very hard to hide her smile. Since she had come at James' place two hours ago, she had enjoyed a very pathetic sight – James Potter, a babysitter. Cane wanted to be carried in someone's arms. To be precise, he wanted to be carried in James' arms. And he did not want to sleep. Each time James tried to leave him on the sofa, he started trying to deafen them with his wailing, so James had to take him in his arms again. Lily had tried to help, but it seemed that Cane did not share James' liking of red-heads – he had seized a lock of her hair and had tried to pull it by the roots.

"Sirius is dead."

Lily grinned. "Is he?"

"Oh, yes. I'll kill him."

Cane gurgled and James grinned evilly. "See? Even his own son approves of the idea. I'll want the deed for the flat before I kill him!"

His fiancée nodded seriously. "Oh?"

"In remuneration for making me experience the most traumatic moment in my life," James explained. "_Besides_ losing my time. You see I don't have a free minute to rest during this – indescribable obligation!"

Lily did not answer. Instead, she took Cane in her arms and the baby, as unreliable as his father, quickly revised his disliking of her and started sucking at her hair. James scowled.

"I'll keep him interested for a while," Lily said, "so you can have some rest. You must be dying to read your Quidditch magazine at last."

"You can see clearly that Cane prefers playing with me!" He shook his head angrily. "I'm bearing the responsibility for him now, never mind the way his parents foisted him on me."

Lily raised her eyebrows and James' faces turned the color of her hair. "I haven't asked them to leave him with me!" he said angrily. "I haven't asked for him!"

"Of course you haven't, love."

He gave her a suspicious look. "Are you laughing at me?"

"Yes."

James growled.

The dinner was another ordeal. Cane refused to be left on the sofa, so Lily had to keep him in her lap. That should mean that they'd be all safe this way, but _no_. Cane succeeded to land himself in trouble even from this position. If the two adults haven't been so quick and skilful, he would have poured the hot coffee over himself, to pull the tablecloth from the table, to burn himself on the candle, or to taste his first cognac. They did not have a quiet moment!

Finally, James sighed and sat on the table with the baby in his arms. "He wants me to feed him," he stated and Cane gurgled. "Alright, where is his bottle?"

Lily handed it to him. "Sirius is dead," he said again and kept saying it for the next ten minutes, when Cane finally looked at him and meowed, indicating that he'd had enough. James' face contorted in horror when he realized what he should do next. "How am I going to turn him over?"

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**Three hours later…**

"Hello, how was your dinner?"

"Great," Angela smiled. "How was your evening alone with Cane?"

"It was – interesting, to say the least," Lily answered tactfully, and Sirius laughed out loud.

"Did he drain you to the last drop?"

"And then some," she nodded.

"Thanks for coming here, Lily," Sirius said. "If you hadn't agreed to watch over them, Angela would not have agreed to go out with me. She seems to be suffering from the idea that men – and James in particular – are not trustworthy enough to leave Cane with them."

Angela's reply died on her lips when she saw the grin that Lily could not keep any longer. "What's going on?" she asked suspiciously.

Still refusing to let the giggles leave her mouth, Lily led them both to the bedroom where Angela gasped and Sirius goggled. It was the reality itself. James Potter was sprawled on the bed, sleeping. Cane was lying on his stomach. And also sleeping.

"I don't believe it!" Sirius said, shaking his head.

"It's true!" Lily finally let herself giggle. "You should have seen them when James was trying to lull them to sleep. I had no idea he knew so many lullabies. Even so, they were not enough and he reorientated to marches. Cane fell asleep only when James switched over to Christmas carols without turning a hair."

"No way!" Sirius said in disbelief.

"It's true!" Lily squealed, "I swear it's true. I saw it with my eyes."

"I can't believe I missed that!" Angela exclaimed. "Why do I always miss the interesting bits?"

Sirius laughed out loud and reached to take his son. James woke up immediately and smiled sleepily. "Oh, it's you," he said. "He's in one piece, see?"

Angela laughed. Cane, on the other hand, took the need to leave his comfortable bed extremely bad – he opened his little mouth and gave a piercing cry.

"Here, here, Cane," Sirius said, trying to calm him. "You're going home now, with Mummy and Daddy, do you understand?"

Cane did not. He grabbed James' hair and continued crying.

"I can't believe this," Angela said breathlessly. "What on earth did you do, James, took the moon and the stars down just for him?

James shook his head helplessly. "I – I don't know – "

Sirius rocked Cane back and forth, but the baby kept crying.

"He doesn't want to leave," James said, his confusion quickly replaced by smugness. "He likes me."

"No, Sirius corrected him, "he just thinks you makes a comfortable cradle, am I right, Cane?"

"No," James said confidently, "he likes me. He likes me better than you, in fact."

Sirius shrank him with a look. "Don't worry, we won't bother you to be a babysitter anytime soon," he said.

"Sirius is jealous!" Lily snickered.

"I am not jealous!"

"Yes, you bloody well are," James confirmed.

"I am not!" Sirius yelled and Cane, who did not want to let anyone else have the last cry, gave a deafening yell.

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**An hour later…**

"Angela!"

No reaction.

"Angela!"

Still no response. Cane was starting to squirm nervously in his arms. Sirius shook her and was finally rewarded with a groan and a bleary look. "What's going on?"

She was very pale and sounded utterly exhausted – exhausted, Sirius knew, not by their late dinner, but by the blood loss and lacerates, caused by the difficult childbirth. She had not fully recovered yet and despite his best efforts to help her with the baby, she still overtiring herself, especially with the night breastfeeding.

"Nothing, Angela. Go to sleep."

She was so tired that she could not even wake up enough to remember about the nursing. Her eyes closed immediately. Cane started crying and Sirius arranged him better in the crook of his arm, paying attention on holding his head upright. _He is not a rag-doll, after all._

Sirius expected that Angela would wake up – Cane was crying in full force now. She did not wake up. _I'll have to do it, then. I'll wake her up. But why can't he suck without her being awake? _Her breasts were bare and she was lying on her side. Could Cane do it by his own?

Sirius placed the baby close to Angela but nothing happened. Sirius sat on the bed and frowned. Why the devil wouldn't it work? Didn't babies possess some kind of instinct? He turned the little face toward her until the baby's cheek brushed against her nipple. But the little head turned away again, and Cane continued crying.

Exasperated, Sirius lay down behind Cane and turned him onto his side, guiding the little mouth to the nipple. Sirius held the boy in place until at last the nipple was found and Cane began to suck.

Sirius smiled, pleased with himself and the baby. With his hand covering the back of the baby's head, holding him firmly to his source of food, Sirius was able to lie there and watch mother and child at his leisure. _Every new father ought to be so lucky_, he told himself.

He nearly chuckled aloud at his own cleverness. He was feeling damned proud. This was his son and he had helped to feed him. Well, he had brought the baby to his food, anyway. It was nearly the same thing. He could understand a little of what Angela must feel each time she fed him. It was a marvelous feeling. How could I have ever thought that I would not love him?

He felt even more proud when he finally placed Cane in his cradle. He had even managed to turn both mother and child over so that Angela's other breast, quite swollen with milk, could be drained as well. And all without waking her. _One of the brightest students in my year_, he thought smugly.

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**The next morning…**

"I can't believe it!"

"Macy, it might be just a dog – "

"Does it look like a dog to you?"

"Well, no."

"Good. Because it isn't one. It is a wolf! Really, do these young people have any idea how to raise a child? First, she comes with the baby and a _giant_ dog, then he arrives here with a _wolf_!"

Sirius pretended not to hear the disapproving murmur of the old ladies and continued pushing the baby-carriage with one arm, holding Empress' leash with the other. They avoided each other's looks, because if they looked at each other, they would burst into laughter and a laughing she-wolf would be a very strange sight in the local park. Sirius briefly wondered what would the old ladies say if they knew that the white she-wolf had actually nursed Cane before accepting the leash. That gives an entirely knew meaning of all those myths of babies who were nursed by she-wolves, he thought and told her that. She gave him her wolfish laughter.

"When we go back home," he whispered in her ear under the amazed stares of all passers-by, who expected that he would be torn into pieces in a moment, "I'll be the one sucking."

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**A. N. Leave me a review? Please?**

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